Obama: Missile from separatist area

President Barack Obama said Friday that evidence thus far indicates the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was caused by a surface-to-air missile launched from areas in Ukraine controlled by Russian separatists.

In remarks from the White House briefing room, Obama called for an immediate ceasefire in the area so that a “credible international investigation” can be conducted in the aftermath of a crash that, he said, is a strong reminder of the urgency of the need for a change of course in eastern Ukraine.

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“This should snap everybody’s heads to attention,” he said, and lead the United States and Europe to put more pressure on Russia to stop offering military support to separatists, and for Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to take concrete steps to do so.

“Nearly 300 innocent lives were taken — men, women, children, infants who had nothing to do with the crisis in Ukraine,” he said. “Their deaths are a outrage of unspeakable proportions.”

Obama said that the U.S. government has thus far identified just one American citizen who died in the crash, student Quinn Lucas Schansman, but that the fact that the U.S. toll was not greater “that does nothing to lessen our outrage.”

It’s “too early” to say for certain who fired the missile, the president said, but there is a clear link between recent activities by the separatists in eastern Ukraine backed by Russia regarding attacks on Ukrainian aircraft, including shooting down a transport plane.

“It is not possible for these separatists to function how they’re functioning … without sophisticated equipment” and Russian support, Obama said.

“We’ve seen a ticking up of violence in Ukraine,” he added, earlier noting that “violence and conflict inevitability lead to unforeseen consequences.”

The tragedy puts new pressure on Obama and his European allies to more forcefully confront Russia over continued instability in eastern Ukraine. It came just a day after Obama announced new U.S. sanctions against Russia — which he and Putin were discussing when the first reports of the crash emerged Thursday — and, if Russian-linked forces or weapons were involved, it is expected that the United States and others in the West will respond with even more onerous sanctions.

“This certainly will be a wake up call for Europe and the world that there are consequences to escalating conflict in eastern Ukraine and it is not going to be localized it is not going to be contained,” Obama said.

The incident “sadly brings home the degree to which the stakes are high in Europe,” he added.

During Thursday’s call with Putin, Obama said he told the Russian president “that we have been very clear from the outset that we want Russia to take the path that would lead to peace in Ukraine but so far Russia has failed to take that path.”

The leaders have not spoken again since the details of the crash have come to light, but regardless of who’s directly responsible for the downing of the plane, Obama said, Putin has it within his power to effectively end the fighting.

“If Mr. Putin makes a decision that we are not going to allow heavy armaments and the flow of fighters into Ukraine across the Ukrainian-Russian border. then it will stop…..He has the most control over that situation and, so far, he has not exercised it,” he said.